I overall agree, except for one important caveat: one of the main incentives for high-tech investment in France is the "crédit d'impôt recherche", "tax break for research". It's very effective, as it pays ~ 50% of salaries + charges for employees performing R&D duty.
But the fiscal services systematically target those who take this tax break, and it's pretty random whether they'll cancel it retroactively, up to 3 years after you received it. For startups, which often spend most of their money on R&D salaries, such a recall is often fatal. And qualifying for it makes or breaks many business plans. So it adds a considerable risk to an activity that's more than risky enough, in a country that already suffers from risk averseness.
Unfortunately, the department of taxes & finances a.k.a. "Bercy" is where the best graduates from ÉNA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_d%27admini...] go, and ÉNA is also the alma mater of most French politicians: finance civil administrators often control politicians more than the other way around, so the latter don't seem capable to control the formers' destructive power.
But the fiscal services systematically target those who take this tax break, and it's pretty random whether they'll cancel it retroactively, up to 3 years after you received it. For startups, which often spend most of their money on R&D salaries, such a recall is often fatal. And qualifying for it makes or breaks many business plans. So it adds a considerable risk to an activity that's more than risky enough, in a country that already suffers from risk averseness.
Unfortunately, the department of taxes & finances a.k.a. "Bercy" is where the best graduates from ÉNA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_d%27admini...] go, and ÉNA is also the alma mater of most French politicians: finance civil administrators often control politicians more than the other way around, so the latter don't seem capable to control the formers' destructive power.